Prescription drugs are No. 1 cause of injury death: report

Denver – Poisonings from prescription drugs led all causes of injury death in the United States in 2012, according to according to a report from the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver.

Using National Poison Control Center data, researchers found that pharmaceutical products – including opioid painkillers and cardiovascular and antidepressant medications – accounted for 83 percent of poisonings resulting in death in 2012.

Prescription opioid exposures by children more than doubled from 2,591 to 5,541 from 2002 to 2012.